MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 431, 19 September 1849, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Lois,n Jeffrey's Style. — The great characteristic of Lord Jeffrey is, with some striking exceptiops, the fairness and general justice of the criticism which his works exhibit, the kindly feeling which they evince, and the lively illustrations with which they abound. He had vast powers of application, When in great practice at the bar, and deservedly a leading counsel in jury cases, he contrived to find time to conduct the Edinburgh Rei'iew t and to enrich its pages by above a hundred contributions. There is no great extent of learning in thsm, few original ideas, and little of that earnestness of expression which springs from strong internal conviction, and it the chief foqnt of eloquent and overpowering ora-

tcry. He rarely quotes classical or Italian literature, and bis writings give no token of a mind stored with their imagery. He seldom gives you the feeling that he is serious, or deeply impressed with his subject. He seldom strikes with force ; but very often touches with fel'city. The feeling which pervades his writings is always excellent, often generous ; his taste is correct, his criticism in general just, and it is impossible not to admire the light aod airy hand with which he treats of the most difficult subjects, and the happy expressions with which he often illustrates the most abstruse ideas. He deals more in Scotch metaphysics than suits the present age : he made some signal and well known mistakes in the estimation of contemporary poetry ; and laboured, without effect, to write up Fond, Massinger, and the old dramatists, whom their inveterate indecency has justly banished from genera^ popularity. But these faults are amply redeemed by the attractions of his essays in other jespects. There are no more charming reviews in our language than some which his collected reviews contain ; and no one can rise from their perusal with any surprise that the accomplished author of works containing so much just and kindly criticism should deservedly be a most popular and respected judge. — Black'-ood's Magazine.

Monastic Libraries. — The condition of these libraries is curious and vexatious. In many monasteries they are highly appreciated and cannot be bought ; in others they are neglected and rotting, and in some put to ignominious uses. As, for instance, in a large Bulgarian monastryrnorth of the town of Cavalla, where a foreign bookhunter, whose expectations had been much excited by rumour, was assured by the Agoumenos or superior, that it contained no library whatever ; that they had nothing but the liturgies and churrh books, and no palaia pruqmata or antiquities a! all. The poor man hail bumped upon a pick saddle over villainous roads for many days for no other object, and the library of which he was in search had vanished as the visions of a dream. The Agouraenos begged his guest to enter with the monks into the choir, where the almost continual church service was going on, and there he saw the double row of long bearded holy fathers, shouting away at the chorus " Kyre eleison, Christie eleison," which occurs almost every minute in the ritual of the Greek church. Each of the monks was standing, to save his bare legs, from the damp of tbe marble floor, upon a great folio volume, which had been removed from tbe conventual library and applied to purposes of .practical utility in the way which I have described. Tbe traveller, on examining these pondrous tomes, found them to be of the greatest value ; one was in uncial letters, and others were full of illuminations of the earliest date ; all these he was allowed to carry away in exchange for some footstools or hassocks, which he presented in their stead to the old monks ; they were comfortably covered with " ketchie," or felt, and were in many respects more convenient to the inhabitants of the monastry than tbe manuscripts had been, for many of their antique bindings were ornamented with bosses and nail heads, which inconvenienced the toes of the unsophisticated congregation who stood upon them without shoes for so many hours Jn the day. I must add, that the lower halves or the manuscripts were imperfect, from the damp of the floor of tbe church having corroded and eaten away their vellum ]ea.ves.-Hon.R.&trzon

A Night Adventure in Oregon. — In the evening of the 13th, not far from home, as we were ascending a very steep hill, at the top of which isva vast plain, I and my man had to walk, leaving our horses to shift for themselves and climb up as they could ; and so steep and intricate were the winding?, that I had to throw off my coat, which, together with my gu», I laid on one of the pack-horses. The moment we reached the top, and before we coald gather our horses and look about us, we were overtaken by a tremendous cold snow storm ; the sun became instantly obscured, and the wind blew a hurricane. We were taken by surprise. I immediately called out to the men to shift for themselves, and let the horses do the same. Just at this moment I accidentally came in contact with one of the loaded horses, for such was the darkness that we could not see three feet ahead ; but. unfortunately, it was not the horse on which I had laid my coat and gun. I instantly cut the tyings, threw off the load, and mounting on the pack-saddle, rode off at tull speed through the deep snow, in the hopes of reaching a well-known place of shelter not far off: but in the darkness and confusion I missed the place, and at last got so benumbed with cold *hat I could ride no farther ; and besides, my horse was almost exhausted. In this plight I dismounted and took to walking, in order to warm myself. But no place of shelter was to be found. Night came on; the storm increased in violence ; my horse gave up ; and I myself was so exhausted, wandering through Jtbe leep snow, that I could go no further. Here [ halted, unable to decide 'what to do. My

I situation appeared desperate : without my coat, I without my gun, without even a fire steel. In | such a situation I must perish. At last I rej solved on digging a hole in the snow ; but in j trying to do so I was several times in danger of being suffocated with the drift and eddy. In this dilemma I unsaddled my horse, which stood motionless as a statue in the snow. I put the saddle under me, and the saddle-cloth, about the size of a handkerchief, round my shoulders, then squatted down in the dismal hole, more likely to prove my grave than a shelter. On entering the hole, I said to myself, " Keep awake, and live ; sleep, and die." I had not been long, however, in the dismal barrow, before the cold, notwithstanding my utmost exertions to keep my feet warm, gained so fast upon me that I was obliged to take i off my shoes, then pull my trousers by little and little, over my feet, till at last I had the waistband round my toes ; and all would not do. I was now reduced to the last shift, and tried to keep my feet warm at the risk of freezing my body. At Jasfl had scarcely strength to move a limb ; the cold was gaining fast upon me ; and the inclination to sleep almost overcame me. In this condition I passed the whole night ; nor did the morning promise me much relief ; yet I thought it offered me a glimpse of hope, and that hope induced me to endeavour to break out of my snowy prison. I tried, but in vain, to put on my frozen shoes ; I tried again and again before I could succeed. I then dug my saddle out of the snow, and after repeated efforts, reached the horse and put the saddle on ; but could not myself get into the saddle. Ten o'clock next day came before there was any abatement of the storm, and when it did clear up a little I knew not where I was ; still it was cheering to see the storm abate. I tried again to get into the saddle ; and when I at last succeeded, my half frozen horse refused to carry me, for he could scarcely lift a leg. I then alighted and tried i to walk ; but the storm broke out again with redoubled violence. I saw no hope ot saving myself but to kill the horse, open him, and get into his body ; and I drew my hunting knife lor the purpose ; but it then occurred to me that the body would freeze, and that I could not in that case extricate myself. I therefore abandoned the idea, laid my knife by and tried again to walk, and again got into the saddle. The storm now abating a little, my horse hegan to move ; and I kept wandering about through the snow till three o'clock in the afternoon, when the storm abated altogether; and the sun coming out, I recognised my position. I was then not two miles from ray own house ; where I arrived at dusk ; and it was high time, for I could not have gone much farther ; and, after all, it was my poor horse that,saved me ; for had I set out on foot, I should never, in my exhausted condition, hayed reached the house. — Ross's Adventures en the Oregon River. Origin op Reflecting Lighthouses. — In the last century, at a meeting of a society of mathematicians at Liverpool, one of tha members proposed to lay a wager that he would read a paragraph of a newspaper at ten yards distance, with the light of a farthing candle. The wager was laid, and the proposer having covered the inside of a wooden dish with pieces of looking-glass, fastened in with glaziers' putty, placed his reflector behind the candle, and won his wager. One of the company marked this experiment with a philosophic eye. This was Captain Hutchinson, the dock master, with whom originated the reflecting lighthouses erected at Liverpool in 1763. — The London Anecdotes.

Punch's American Dispatches. — Punch picks the following tit-bits from the larger bundle of Yankee papers, which have been forwarded to him from his regular, slick goahead correspondent at New York : " There is a man in Connecticut who began reading the president's last speech two months ago, and has not got through it yet. His health still remains good. — The Spangled Banner has the impudence to say of the British navy: 1 It is like the Lords of the Admiralty, nothing better than a bundle of sticks. The English ships may stand fire, but it is very clear they cannot stand water. They are only fit for lucifer matches. Turned upside dowD, they would make capital diving-bells, they go steadily to the bottom. We are inclined to believe that the great government dock-yards of England, are the Goodwin Sands, for it is a positive fact that more English vessels have been wrecked there than anywhere else.' — The Philadelphia Sponge givss the account of a grand new Insolvent 'Debtors' Repudiation Hall.'— The New York Revolver inquires, ' What has America done that- all the Irish should fly « there ?'— The Trumpet of Truth gives a long account of a windmill, the sails of which revolve by electricity, and of an omnibus horse that runs with a cork leg ; and the New York papers are full of a laundiess who has agreed with the principal railways for permission to wash her linea in the engines, aud hang it out to dry afterwards on the wires of their telegraphs." —Punch. '